Madam Secretary? Seriously?

I may be off my rocker for wondering about this, but here goes. You’ve seen the ads for Madam Secretary, right? (Aside from those of you who shun TV as unworthy of your attention, of course.) Téa Leoni stars as a smart, tough, engaged, down-to-earth, problem-solving secretary of state who gets results by doing the right thing.

Now, sure, her husband is not a former US president. So she isn’t quite just a gauzy, fictionalized depiction of Hillary Clinton. But she’s close! And considering that secretary of state is surely one of the least glamorous positions in the federal government—another grueling day working the phones with fellow foreign ministers, hooray!—it’s pretty hard not to see this as a fairly transparent attempt to make Hillary look like presidential timber. At least, that’s what I’d think if I were either a Republican or any Democrat thinking of running against her.

On the other hand, shows like this usually flop, so maybe it won’t work out. Or maybe Hillary will look wan and fainthearted compared to the hard charging, damn-the-politics Elizabeth McCord. I dunno. But it sure seems like a helluva coincidence, doesn’t it?